Overview
See production notesIn 1973, sports handicapper, Sam "Ace" Rothstein, is sent by the Chicago Mafia to Las Vegas to run the Tangiers Casino, with Philip Green serving as its frontman, and Ace's childhood friend, Nicky Santoro, assigned to protect both him, and the casino. Ace soon doubles the casino's profits, with a portion regularly skimmed and delivered to the Midwest Mafia bosses. After Nicky is blacklisted from working in Las Vegas casinos, he assembles a crew that includes his younger brother, Dominick, and right-hand man, Frankie Marino, to carry out extortion and jewellery burglaries, for their own profit. Nicky's criminal activities soon attract unwanted media and police attention. Ace falls in love with the con artist and former prostitute, Ginger McKenna. They marry and have a daughter, Amy, but their marriage is soon strained by Ginger's drug and alcohol addiction, and her relationship with Lester Diamond, her former lover and a pimp. Eventually, Ace arranges for Nicky and his crew to beat Lester, after catching him accepting $25,000 from Ginger at a café. In 1976, Ace fires slot manager Don Ward for incompetence. Ward is the brother-in-law of Clark County Commission chairman Pat Webb, who fails to persuade Ace to reinstate him. In retaliation, Webb has Ace's gaming license application denied, jeopardizing Ace's position. Ace responds by insulting the gaming board and local politicians during the licensing hearing, creating a spectacle for the news cameras, and bringing more unwanted attention to the casino. Unable to legally run the casino, Ace begins hosting a local television talk show from the Tangiers, frustrating the Midwest bosses by drawing even more attention to their operation. Ace blames Nicky's reckless criminality for the growing scrutiny, leading to a confrontation in the desert that ends with Nicky threatening him. Ace's repeated attempts to persuade Nicky to leave Las Vegas further strain their friendship. In 1980, with his marriage on the verge of collapse, Ace considers divorcing Ginger. She later kidnaps Amy, and plans to flee to Europe with Lester. After learning of her plan, Ace convinces Ginger to return with their daughter. Later that night, Ace catches Ginger arranging a contract killing against him. Although he throws her out, he reluctantly forgives her when she returns. Ginger confides in Nicky, and the two begin an affair, which private investigators soon expose. Nicky ends the affair after Ginger asks him to kill Ace, and threatens to inform the FBI about their criminal activities. Ginger steals much of Ace's cash and jewelry, and prepares to abandon Ace and Amy, only to be arrested by the FBI shortly afterwards. In 1982, the FBI discovers records kept by Artie, who oversees the skimming operation. The FBI closes the Tangiers and persuades Green to cooperate. Agents also approach Ace, and show him photographs of Nicky and Ginger together, but he refuses to help. The Midwest bosses are arrested, and to protect themselves, they arrange the murders of everyone involved in the casino operation who could testify against them. In 1983, an impoverished Ginger dies from a drug overdose in Los Angeles, which Ace suspects was tainted to be lethal. That same year, Ace narrowly survives a car bomb and suspects Nicky is responsible. In 1986, the Midwest bosses, having grown tired of Nicky's reckless criminality, have him and his brother beaten with baseball bats, by Frankie, and buried alive in a shallow grave, in a remote Illinois cornfield. In the years that follow, the Mafia is pushed out of the casino industry by large corporations, which demolish nearly all of the old casinos. They are replaced by newer, more glamorous casinos, that Ace laments are impersonal, and soulless. Because he remains a reliable earner for the Mafia, Ace is spared, and relocates to San Diego, where he resumes working as a sports handicapper.
Plot from Casino (1995 film)CC BY-SA 4.0
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- United States, France
- Original language
- English
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Quotes
See all quotesMr. Rothstein, you people never will understand the way it works out here. You're all just our guests, but you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner: you ain't home, but that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the Governor. Thank you for your time.
Casino (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Paige Novodor: Good evening, everyone. I'm Paige Novodor. What should've been a routine licensing hearing turned into bedlam yesterday when the flamboyant Tangiers Casino executive, Sam "Ace" Rothstein, accused the state's top gaming officials of corruption and hypocrisy. In a wild and unprecedented outburst that followed his gaming license denial, Rothstein followed several stunned commissioners into the hallway, where he continued his harangue until his own lawyers and friends urged him to leave. Sam Rothstein: [on tape] I have a past, you have a past, and my past is no worse than yours. But you think you have the right to pass judgment! Paige Novodor: Long suspected of running the Tangiers without a gaming license, yesterday's hearing was to determine whether someone with Rothstein's checkered personal history was qualified to officially hold a top gaming post.
Casino (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
[Narrating, when asked by Remo if Nicky's having an affair with Ginger] What could I say? I knew if I gave the wrong answer — I mean, Nicky, Ginger, Ace — all of 'em could wind up getting killed. Because there's one thing about these old-timers: they don't like any fucking around with the other guys' wives. It's bad for business. So I lied. Even though I knew that by lying to Gaggi, I could wind up getting killed too.
Casino (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Ace Rothstein: [narrating] Before I ever ran a casino or got myself blown up, Ace Rothstein was a hell of a handicapper, I can tell you that. I was so good that when I bet, I can change the odds for every bookmaker in the country. I'm serious. I had it down so cold that I was given paradise on earth. I was given one of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas to run: the Tangiers, by the only kind of guys that can get you that kind of money. Sixty-two million seven hundred thousand dollars. I don't know all the details. Nicky Santoro: [narrating] Matter of fact, nobody knew all the details. But it should have been perfect. I mean he had me, Nicky Santoro, his best friend, watching his ass. And he had Ginger, the woman he loved, on his arm. But in the end, we fucked it all up. It should have been so sweet, too. But it turned out to be the last time that street guys like us were ever given anything that fuckin' valuable again.
Casino (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Nicky Santoro: [voiceover] Ace saw Vegas one way. Nicky: You call this guy and tell him I'm comin'? Frank: Of course. Nicky Santoro: [voiceover] But I saw it another. I saw it as untouched. I mean, they had bookies, pimps and drug dealers I could shake down. Who the fuck were they gonna run to? So, I started getting everybody in line. Best of all, for the first time in my life, I figured out a way not to lose. Ace Rothstein: [voiceover] Yeah, he had a foolproof scheme, all right. It wasn't very scientific, but it worked. When he won, he collected. When he lost, he told the bookies to go fuck themselves. What were they gonna do, muscle Nicky? Nicky was the muscle. Nicky: Tony. Tony: [surprised] Nicky! Nicky: How you doin'? Tony: How you doin'? Nicky: All right, yeah. You got that thing for me? Tony: What thing? Oh, Nicky, I thought you was layin'. Nicky: I was layin'? No, no, I'm takin' it. I was takin' it. Tony: You sure? Nicky: I'm positive. Tony: Well, I'm a little confused here. Nic
Casino (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Ace Rothstein: [to Billy] I don't give a shit who he's connected to. Tell him to take his fucking feet off the table. What does he think this is, a goddamn sawdust joint? Billy Sherbert: [to cowboy] Sir, would you mind taking your feet off the table and put your shoes on, please? Cowboy: Yeah, I would mind. I'm having a bad night. Billy: [to Ace] Fucking asshole won't budge. Ace: Call security. [to cowboy] How are you? Cowboy: Good. How are you? Ace: Good. Want to do me a favor? You want to take your feet off the table and put your shoes back on? Cowboy: Fuck you! Ace: [to security officers] I want you to exit this guy off the premises, and I want you to exit him off his feet and use his head to open the fucking door. Security Officer #1: [to cowboy] Sir, you're gonna have to leave. You mind coming with us outside? Cowboy: Bullshit. I ain't going anywhere. Security Officer #1: [ejecting him as instructed] Bullshit, you're outta here! Cowboy: Fuck you! Fuck you! You know who you're fuck
Casino (film), CC BY-SA 4.0
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